1988 - Series 5 - Decepticon Pretenders

Soon, my six 1988 Autobot Pretenders will be joined (or will have to fight with) the six 1988 Decepticon Pretenders: Skullgrin, Bomb Burst, Submarauder, Iguanus, Bugly and Finback!

More on this in a week and a bit!

The Deluxe Insecticons - Barrage, Chop Shop, Ransack & Venom

The 1985 Deluxe Insecticons. Have always liked these guys. Did not get around to acquiring them, as a full set, till recently.

I liked that they are larger and generally have more complex transformations and more weapons than the other three Insecticons (Shrapnel, Kickback and Bombshell). I also liked that they have many many stickers on each of their sticker sheets. Much more so (again) than the other three Insecticons.

Back in the 80s, didn't understand why they were never in the G1 cartoons or even the G1 comics. So, I'm rather delighted that they were in Dreamwave's More Than Meets The Eye source books and also were in War Within volume one (sort of, as easter eggs really).

For years, I've had a Ransack box; have 2 loose and one MIB Chop Shop; and an MIB Barrage but incomplete. Never did get around to acquiring them all.

So, when I was offered all four, each with complete paper works and bubbles, I thought I might just purchase all four, for completeness sake and also to get them all in bubbles. Will sort out the spares later. heh.

Here they are: Barrage, Chop Shop, Ransack and Venom, all MIB, with bubble insert, with complete paper works and partially used sticker sheets.

The Blackest Night falls from the sky...

A cool concept made even cooler...

By the by, I've made a decision to collect these babies. They come with November's Blackest Night issues... pity that I missed the Yellow Ring that came with Doom Patrol #4... darn...

The seven colours of the emotional spectrum: Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red

The Search for Kryptonite, also known as 'K'

Gosh, I can't believe how long its taken DC, but they finally put this out - the TPB softcover version of The Search for Kryptonite (otherwise known simply as "K" during its original publication run).

I must have waited a year (imaginarily or really) between the hardcover release and this new TBP softcover release. I quite starkly refuse to buy hardcover collected editions because I just don't like to read them - they don't hold nicely in the hands. I was tempted everytime I walked by a copy of this in hardcover, always thinking at the back of my head that the softcover TBP would not be released.

Great that I resisted my temptation and now bought the softcover copy today. Hurrah!

The Movie Night List

This is the movie night list as of 09.11.09

Movies

1. 10,000 BC
   
2. 21
   
3. A Knight's Tale
   
4. Alien (Ridley Scott)
5. Aliens (James Cameron)
6. Aliens versus Predator
   
7. American History X
8. American Psycho
9. Animatrix
   
10. Apocalypse Now
    
11. Assassins
12. Batman Begins
    
13. Birthday Girl
    
14. Bourne Identity, The
15. Bourne Supremacy, The
16. Bourne Ultimatum, The
17. Breakfast at Tiffanys
    
18. Brokeback Mountain
19. Brothers Grimm, The
20. Burn After Reading
    
21. Catch Me If You Can
    
22. Children of Men
23. Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black
24. Chronicles of Riddick, The
    
25. Cinderella Man
26. Dark Knight, The
    
27. Day of the Dead
28. Deep Blue Sea
    
29. Departed, The
    
30. Disaster Movie
    
31. Dracula, Bram Stoker's
32. DragonHeart
    
33. Empire Records
    
34. Erin Brokovich
35. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
    
36. Euro Trip
    
37. Event Horizon
38. Family Man, The
39. First Knight
    
40. Girl, Interrupted
41. Gladiator
    
42. Harold & Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay
    
43. Hitman
44. Incredible Hulk, The (Edward Norton)
45. Iron Man
    
46. Jerry Maguire
47. Jurassic Park
    
48. Just Like Heaven
    
49. Libertine, The
50. Matrix, The
51. Matrix Reloaded
52. Matrix Revolutions
    
53. Meet the Spartans
    
54. Mr & Mrs Smith
    
55. Natural Born Killers
56. Primal Fear
    
57. Pitch Black
    
58. Pulse
59. Reservoir Dogs
    
60. Road Trip
    
61. Scoop
    
62. Sleepless in Seattle
63. Spider-Man 2
    
64. Stardust
65. Starship Troopers
    
66. Stealth
    
67. Superman Returns (2006)
    
68. Swordfish
    
69. Terminator, The
70. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
    
71. The Last Time I Committed Suicide
    
72. Underworld
    
73. Weather Man, The
    
74. Wrong Man, The
75. xXx (Triple X)
76. xXx 2: The Next Level
    

Animated Movies

1. Animatrix
2. Kung Fu Panda
   
3. Finding Nemo
4. Monster House
   
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Open Season
7. Shrek
8. Shrek 2
   
9. Surfs Up
10. Transformers: The Movie (1986)(20th Anniversary Edition)
11. Transformers: The Movie (1986)(2003 Madman Edition)
    
12. Transformers: The Movie (1986)(Special Edition)
13. Treasure Planet
    

Serials

1. Lost (Season 1)
2. Lost (Season 2)
3. Lost (Season 3)
4. Lost (Season 4)
5. Mr Bean (Season 1)
6. Mr Bean (Season 2)
7. Mr Bean (Season 3)
8. The Tudors (Season 1)
9. The Tudors (Season 2)
   
10. V - the original mini series

Animated Cartoons

1. M.A.S.K: The Complete Collection (eps 1 to 75)
2. He Man & She Ra: The Secret of the Sword
3. Transformers Generation One Complete Collection (eps 1 to 98)
4. Transformers Japan: Headmasters (eps 1 to 35)
   
5. Transformers Japan: Masterforce (eps 1 to 42)
   
6. Transformers Japan: Victory (eps 1 to 32)
   
7. Visionaries (1-13)
   

Japanese Anime (with English subtitles)

1. Appleseed
   
2. Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The
3. Macross Plus (1-4)
   
4. Tales from Earth Sea
   

Random Pic of the Day - the Decepticon Seekers

One of my all time favourite shots in my glass display case with white laminate backing to accentuate the colours of the figures.

The six Decepticon seekers - (top row) Skywarp, Thundercracker, Starscream, (second row) Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet.

Acquired these in early 2000. I made it a point to obtain pre-rub versions of the 1984 seekers, and gosh, were these difficult to come by. I wanted them pre-rub for their clean designed cockpits - ie without the 'ridge' that is present in all later year seekers and all reissue seekers in the years to come. Also, since the pre-rub seekers seem to have lunchers with slightly stronger springs, I did not load their missiles into the launchers for this picture.

Masterforce C309 Godbomber - a whirlwind adventure

It was the year 2000.

At the time, I've more or less just (re)commenced collecting Transformers again. Naturally, I was particularly interested in the G1 figures that I missed out of, a decade or so before. These were ones that I really wanted but never got around to being given them.

Powermaster Optimus Prime was item #6 on the list of figures I really wanted but missed out on. It was such a relief to have Prime back after he'd died in the 1986 Transformers: The Movie. I was on the search for a Powermaster Optimus Prime back in 2000. Roaming around The Cannery at Clarke Quay, a place that in coming years will surely be remembered as the Singapore toy capital in the 'good old days', I met with many old secondary school friends who were to my surprise also interested in buying back the Transformers they missed out on. I gathered that this may be a common trait among boys. Heh.

Knowing that I am searching for Powermaster Optimus Prime, my friend DY told me one Sunday morning, "Hey, you know that there is an add on trailer to Powermaster Optimus Prime right?"

"What?!? You sure?"

"Yeah. It's called Godbomber, a Japanese exclusive back in 1988. It's one of the holy grails of Transformer collecting. It's so rare that very little people have actually seen it before."

If there is something like that, I'd surely want to acquire it to make my Powermaster Optimus Prime 'complete', I thought. The problem is, I've never, ever, seen or heard this before and had no idea where to look. I scoured eBay, but, as with rare items, no one seemed to be selling Godbombers for months and months.

In the intervening time, WT, another friend had kindly given to me, the entirety of his Transformers collection that fortuitously for me consisted of Powermaster Optimus Prime and Sixshot, both complete. All that was left to do is to find the fabled Godbomber.

On another Sunday months later, there was a Transformers toy 'exhibition' at Exclesior Hotel. I attended with DY and he pointed out to me "There it is. Powermaster Optimus Prime, known as Ginraii in Japan, combined with Godbomber to form God Ginraii."

*jaw drops*.

It exists.

I was blown away.

"Ah, there's my Dolly Parton." the owner of that piece, now one of the few Singaporean PowerSellers on eBay said. He must have been comparing the large chest of God Ginraii with Dolly's chesty chest, I suppose.

I-have-to-have-Godbomber. There's no two ways about it.

The next month or two was spent extensively researching Godbomber. What parts it comes with. Where was it released. Which is the best place to have a chance of finding it.

No luck.

I was also told on good authority that Godbomber was a limited release even back in 1988, and that it was limited to 2000 pieces, released on Japan only. There were supposed to be markings on the Godbomber box that said so. I don't know whether this was or is true since I have no way of verifying it. But I was experiencing great difficulty in locating a Godbomber.

On a random day, I was flipping through a Japanese pocket book that I been given as a present by a primary school classmate. This was a book that I'd paged through time upon time, for countless times. This time however, I noticed something I didn't before. There he was in the picture. Godbomber together with Ginraii and then on their left, a picture of their combined form God Ginraii.

Ironically, Godbomber was a character that I should have known since 1988. This is that picture in the pocket book - I experienced subtle deja-vu and an epiphany at the same time.



Their combined tractor-trailer form is so awesome and like no Prime I've ever seen before that I had renewed vigour in searching for a Godbomber. I would find such a Godbomber from this guy in Hong Kong.

SGD$450 was what he wanted for it. I-was-still-in-University-at-that-time. That-is-a-lot-of-money.

But he was offering an MIB Godbomber for sale! The first I'd ever ever come across in my life. Man, what a mess I was. I knew I had to part with some of my present Transformers in order to raise the cash, but I would have to part with many Transformers to make up SGD$450.

I did the only thing I could. Remember the Overlord I bought for $4 from a University charity fair? Yes, this one here.

I sold that Overlord for SGD$450 to finance my C309 Godbomber MIB.

This is my C309 Godbomber MIB.


Box front


Back of box


Contents, complete with all parts and paperworks


Close up of Godbomber

A while later (could be months or a year I can't remember), Takara saw fit to reissue the C310 God Ginraii giftset en-masse, drastically hammering the price of any existing Godbomber to smithereens. Now every one and his dog is able to acquire a fresh minty Godbomber reissue. To make matters worse, there were some many reissue C310 God Ginraiis in Asia that its price went from SGD$160 on first release to SGD$70 after 6 months, and there were still heaps floating around.

Such was life.

I am still extremely happy with my C309 Godbomber nonetheless. It is a vintage piece in its individual box (which I prefer to giftsets), near-mint, and, if the legends were true, one of 2000 that was released on 1988. If for nothing more, I would still hold it close to heart for the whirlwind adventure it led me on, from discovering it exists, all the way to me acquiring it.

~ HD